The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1887-07-28
The Divinity Of Labor.

! Mamie L. IIatchett, liz Southern Home. ]
One of the strangest things in civili-
zati0n is the idea entertained by a
number ofintelligent, but badly reared
and falsely educated people, that labor
! is degrading, and that idleness is the
! badge of aristocracy. A moments re-
! hection will convince US where this
! dangerous fallacv originated. Certain
! " it was not with God nor with his
servants, since He, himself, was the
! first laborer.
/ Before time was, the Great Spirit
which filed all spaae conceived plan
worthy of his Godhead, and having
conceived it, He proceeded in due
time to carry it into execution. This
was, to create 0ut Of HimsrJfa universe
as infinite IS it was glorious, and on
the completion ofHi5 stupendous task,
seeing that He had done it we'll, He
rested enjoying in the completion Of
His works the pleased qualification that
comes inevitably to every faithful, con-
sCientious worker.
Not only man, but every living crca-
/ ture, was required to toll in some form
or other, and to gather what was pro-
vided for it was made a condition Of
! existence 1t was not, however, until
this intelligent animal-t the last and
| highest of the Crcation-had eaten of
the Tree of knowledge and becomes
as God, having imbibed the spiritual
| and immortal essence, that the Cod
! Ike power to produce was bestowed
upon him. Since the hour wherein
our first parents were banished from
their home in Eden, there has been no
such thing as inactivity for the race of
humanity we must either progress or
retrograde, and are constantly rising
or falling in the scale of being. The
grand and beautiful earth, with all its
untold wealth and matchless glories,
was intrusted to men as platform on
which to exercise his wonderful and
innumerable talents all created things
were made subject to his will, and he
was commanded to go forth and 7o01k.
Though - clothed with little brief
authorty,' all of us are, after all. ser
wants of two supreme masters-GOd
or the Devil-and we are left free to
choose which of these we will serve.
the former requires of His followers
honest, useful occupation, offering as
a reward the assurance Of rest, sweet
and perfect, when the great scene
sh!tter, Delth, lets fall the curtain
on the last act of their stirring life
drama. The higher the order of our
work, and the more nearly it ap-
proaChes to perfection, the more in
tense and expansive becomes the
g spark of divinity" that animates the
human soul. The more develoFed our
God-nature, the more noble VIII be
our aspirations and he who seeks here
the highest calling and performs 1t
| best, will have the choicest robe and
the seat of honor in the Eternal King
dom. The latter eXaCts no more de
voted service than sloth and dissi pa
ton. The person who sits day after
day with folded hands and apparently
vacant mind may 1atter himself that
he is resting that he is unemployed.
! But he is mistaken ; for SO long as he
is a responsible being, he is, by his ex-
ample and influence, sowing seed in
the Devils harvest field, which will
spring up and yield fruit probably
after his body is laid in the dust. 1t
is an old and a trite proyerb, but never
was there a truer, than that q an idle
brain is the Devils workshop" and
the tools in said workshop are, in
quality, number and variety, exactly
in proportion as said brain is other
wise unoccupied. Satan is a shrewd,
ambitious prince, always on the qui
TiTc for opportunities to extend lis
empire, and he is not slow to reCOT-
nize and to secure the services Of such
valuable subjects. These he bribes
with spcciOus promises, brilliant, but
vague and unsubstantial as the 1" stuff
that dreams are made Of" He holds
just beyond their eager grasp wealth
which is never realized, luxuries which
are never enjoyed, and honors which
are never attained. He builds for
them gorgeous palaces out ofthe arrest
fragments of cloud drifts, and tanta-
Lies them with visions Of crowns and
royal robes, whose dazzling jewels melt
like soap bubbles, and are lost on the
air just as they seem within easy reach
of their deluded victim He leads
them on and on, and they lead others,
from height to height, until the mag
ination becomes intoxicated with the
glamour of the unreal; and then, his
end accomplished, he lets them down
into a sunless valley Of gloom and dcs-
olation, where serpents Of envy and
scorpions Of despair hiss and sting
them on every side. This is the &C
Cupatlon Of idlers, and this IS their
reward.
Busy hands and busy brains have
no spare corner for things vapid and
unstable. They have eyes, ears and
thoughts for their work alone: they
deal with the living present and leave
the future to their omnipotent Master
They have no room in their hearts fol
l tho ..n-oa,, a,-o,1 - No